On the heels of a second NFL player losing his life in an off-the-field incident, tonight Piers Morgan welcomes Bob Costas to offer his insightful perspective, and peerless expertise, on the social dynamics pulsating through America's most popular sports league.

In the aftermath of Saturday's car accident that resulted in the death of Dallas Cowboy's linebacker Jerry Brown Jr., and less than days removed from the December 1st murder-suicide involving the Kansas City Chief's Jovan Belcher, the "Piers Morgan Tonight" host sums up the state of the game, and asked his guest for guidance:

"Seventy percent or more of footballers apparently carry guns. Clearly most of them have a lot of money, they drive fast cars, they go to nightclubs, they party and all of the rest of it," details Morgan. "Again I guess it comes back to an overriding sense that the culture of the game is slightly out of control. The statistics of arrests, for example, suggest that. What can we really do about it?"

"I'm not sure what can be done about it exactly. The NFL prohibits the carrying of firearms at any facility, practice facility, any event that's connected to the team – you make a public relations appearance – in the stadium. I don’t know how closely they enforce that. They do prohibit it," explains the man who's hosted a record nine Olympic games.

Joining Morgan for a face to face interview, the 60-year-old with nearly 20 Emmy Awards to his credit further elaborates on the message the NFL attempts to send to it's players:

"We urge you if you do possess a gun, that you use it strictly for protection of home and family, or possibly if you’re a hunter. That it's infinitely more likely that something bad will happen if you’re armed, than that something good will happen.”

soundoff(75 Responses)

Lee Markle

Piers thinks the Founders were only discussing "Muskets" when they framed the 2nd Amendment. It is obvious this left wing Brit never has understood why the founders gave us the 2nd Amendment. It was so we could protect ourselves from government tyranny such as the British endured over the pond. Maybe Mr. Morgan is not happy here and would be better served in his homeland. it's obvious by his viewship, no one here would miss him

Yes, because there almost no automatic handguns in private ownership. Seriously if you don't know what you are talking about, don't even post. It's like saying that a motorcycle is a car. They both have wheels but they don't function the same.

It's funny Carlos that the first thing a dictator wants to do is confiscate the guns. They then have no fear of the "electorate" as a matter of fact they control them. Since the country has over 150m guns, I doubt if any government agency is going to try and take them back. I also no that clowns like Piers Morgan and Bob Costas have no idea how many times guns were used in the protections of lives and property. CNN would never report that information.

I can agree with points on both sides and do not have a passionate opinion one way or the other. I am an expat living in Bogota Colombia. Personal ownership of weapons are illegal unless you have a special permit....enforcement, body guards etc and Colombia has an extremely high murder rate by weapons. S, i am not sure how it works to ban weapons. Per 100,000 people in Colombia 43 are violently murdered each year vs .4 per 100,000 in the US. What is the solution?

If I ever watch another show with Bob Costas hosting...shoot me with my own legally owned weapon!! He needs to shut his mouth and speak about sports. That is clearly all he knows about. He said himself the problems usually stem from illegally aquired weapons. What the hell will more laws fix? Get off the air you pompous ass!! I will boycott ALL Costas programs till the day the networks fires that mis-informed son of a gun! sic

In this day and age of bad guys doing whatever they want, I would rather be prepared, whether at home or in public where I have every right to be. All you have to do is look at the cities with the strictest gun laws to see well it works against Crime! Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. Look at DC, perfect example of how when you relax gun laws murders go down, back a few years they finally allowed citizens the right to own firearms in their homes, murder rate instantly went down. Seriously people, are you this scared of a hammer? A baseball bat? You are way more likely to die from smoking cigarettes than you are a firearm.

Bob Costa has no idea what he is talking about. You can't buy a gun from a dealer or on the internet without a background check! I have been in the gun business for 25 years. He is talking about things he knows nothing about.

Every gun I have bought in my life I did a background check, minus 1. However, you are missing a big point. A law abiding citizen is going to do what with a gun? 1st of all, nothing illegal, so giving him a background check is doing what? Costing him money, someone time, and ultimately providing him with the gun. 2nd, a criminal can't pass a background check, so, what's he going to do? Well for one, he won't buy his gun legally because he knows he won't pass, so he will buy it off the street. So, when it comes down to it, we can do as many background checks as you want, but it really won't stop bad guys from doing bad things and getting guns illegally. All you have to do is look at drugs, ALL of them are illegal, and how's that working out? They are everywhere, and do more damage that guns do. MOST gun owners are responsible, most are safe, and the ones that aren't, well, they lose their permits, they get in trouble, etc, just like a driver does when he makes a mistake and drives drunk and kills a car load of kids. If the media focused as much energy on drunk driving as they did gun crimes, I have a feeling we would have MUCH more stricter DD laws!

Again Costas is full of #$%. Even in Chicago stats prove him wrong. If he had to go somewhere alone he might change his mind. I am sure he has plenty of protection.
The places you need guns are where no morals were taught to children.

Why is it that you are willing to focus on high profile gun cases, but aren't willing to put anywhere NEAR the publicity on the things that are killing WAY more people than people kill other people with guns. Vehicles are responsible for more deaths, SMOKING kills more people than both combined, and actually a baseball bat is responsible for more homicides than any gun. If you are going to try and talk intelligently about our gun rights, at least learn what the guns are, and maybe some history. Comments like you are more likely to have something bad happen than good is an utter farce. The reason why you think only bad things happen is because most of the good that happens never gets publicity if a criminal is stopped by a legally armed citizen, but the biggest reason is most of the time a shot is NEVER fired, the mere presence of the weapon deescalates the situation. Smart criminals want to live to fight another day so when an armed citizen pulls the weapon, smart criminals (if you can say that) leave, run, go away. Next point is you mention your gun homicide rate is lower in your country, yeah, true, however is your homicide rate lower per capita? Is your violence less? If you think yes, then you better check your facts.

We kill terrorists with drones and people with guns. It's the day and age we live in. Give everyone a gun and a right to carry, does it solve the issue or make it worse? Does tightening gun laws get rid of the guns already on the streets? Would it increase gun smuggling? It's a double edged sword we're dealing with and it's mighty sharp.

1 thing that the anti-gun crowd can NEVER talk about is STATISTICS. Let's talk about them, more guns in more american's hands, and violent crime rate is LOWER than it ever has been. the ONLY reason why everyone thinks there is more gun crimes is the media focuses on them and they are quicker and more available due to our instant news life we live in now. There are LESS HOMICIDES now than 20 years ago. Less per capita, less overall. More guns in law abiding hands does mean lower violent crime. All you have to do is go to the FBI crime stats database, ALL public info online, and do the research. Btw, the "assault weapons" they want banned, anyone have a clue of how many lives that would have saved last year, if they were banned? Come on, guess.... we'll make it easy, less than 100, or more than 100... no, not 100,000, 100. let's start there. 2nd, any of your anti-gun people care about jobs? Let's say Mr Obama bans these so called bad weapons, and magazines, and now the UN wanting registration for ammo etc, do you have ANY clue how much $$ is spent on these items a year? Any idea of how many american jobs would be lost if America could NO longer buy AR style weapons, and accessories? Large Capacity magazines? I personally have an AR, it's shoots .223, a round that is about the same diameter as a 22 LR, which most will consider harmless. I have spent quite a bit on accessories for it, most made here in the US, and what wasn't, I would assume US citizens are still making money on it. OH, and a side note, any idea of the TAX money that would be lost when these sales go away? All the income tax on the employees that work here in this industry? Millions and Millions of $$$$ the Feds would lose in 1 quick night. In this day and age when we are all so worried about jobs, you are going to put TONS of them out of work, and cause a shortfall in tax revenue overnight! Good luck!

Legal private gun related incidents are infinitesimal in comparison to the majority of gun related deaths which are police related (360 rounds to kill a knife wielding man 40 feet away), followed by gang related, followed by criminal related, followed by self defense, domestic violence, irresponsible (allowing children access), and way from that are the accidental deaths. And nearly without exception, in every media sited incident of private gun ownership deaths, many existing gun laws (from age, criminal or mental history, gun free zones, etc.) were violated and if these existing gun laws were enforced they would have been prevented.

Then the police brag they are only minutes away from a situation where life and death take seconds, I am NOT impressed.

Only you can protect you. Never let some whiny, frightened, non-American, self absorbed, twit convince you otherwise.

Since the surge of gun ownership, car jacking, armed robbery, and home invasion are almost unheard of.

When the UK and Australia took away guns, their crime rose exponentially.

Like I said, when the Police (who chose voluntarily to take on the risk) feel safe to disarm, then I'll consider it. If the Police NEED guns, so do we. I think that's a reasonable deal.

Bob Costas you are a brave and moral man. Second Amendment is fine, but no-one should doubt that more bad than good happens when guns are involved. Congratulations for speaking the truth that Presidents and national politicians dare not name.

Perfectly stated. The point is: we have many people with psychological issues that are not being addressed. These are the folks that are likely to disregard human life, and back it up with a semi-automatic weapon. We do not need to be terrorized. Bob Costa-you rock for speaking out. I am not anti-handgun, but I am certainly angered by the fact that guns can end up in anyone's hands. I don't think a 7 year old needs to shoot his best friend by accident, and I certainly don't think a country needs to be terrorized by crazed gunmen with semi automatic weapons in movie theaters & malls.

I am a NRA member and an owner of many guns. Owning and using firearms is a huge responsiblility that many people do not take seriously. Mr. Costas is generally well-spoken on the topic and I agree with his rationale. However, taking guns away from law abiding citizens is not the solution since the criminal element will always find ways to procure guns. And unfortunately, the police cannot be everywhere at one time and a response time calculated in minutes is not enough to save your life should you be in a life or death situation.

As Americans we have the right to own the same munitions that the military has. What is our population going to do when the government corrupts itself and turns on its people? They are already trying to label the tea party group as terrorists. As a military member, nothing scares me more than an unarmed population. You sit here and preach gun control, but look at drugs? They are illegal in the U.S. but does that stop criminals from having them? Same with guns. How's that working out for New York? Of course, with freedom comes responsibility. Anyone who owns a gun must treat it responsibly. I am proud to have my CCP. What if someone had a gun in Aurora when that fool walked into the theater? (why is he still alive, btw?). If you as a private citizen don't like the laws, move to Europe. I just came back from France and you would fit right in. Many people in this country don’t realize the immense amount of freedoms we still have here that our government is trying to limit. You say a corrupt government could never happen, so did the Germans 80 years ago.

This is to Costas. On Piers show you say it's common sense that if 60% + of football players own guns then there's more of a chance that bad things will happen than for the chance it would be used in legitimate self defense. Here's the facts Bob.

A 1993 nationwide survey of 4,977 households found that over the previous five years, at least 0.5% of households had members who had used a gun for defense during a situation in which they thought someone "almost certainly would have been killed" if they "had not used a gun for protection." Applied to the U.S. population, this amounts to 162,000 such incidents per year. This figure excludes all "military service, police work, or work as a security guard."

* Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms.[11]

-Bob, your "common sense" is not based fact or statistics. It's your hunch and not common sense. By your interview and the things you've said it seems you think that firearms are not geared to the public good. Can you clearly express "why" that is? Can you state facts that back up your opinion or is it just a feeling based on your negative emotions toward firearms?

It's not very surprising that a British TV personality can't wrap his mind around American gun ownership. We come from 2 completely different histories old chap. We have a second amendment. You ask the question: Why should an average American have access to military style weapons? Guess what.....we don't. LEOs and the military have fully automatic rifles. Why don't you pose the question: Why do our police need fully automatic weapons? Why does our police force need to be militarized? As long as our government and police have powerful weapons, we citizens have a right and a duty to arm ourselves accordingly. We don't have a queen. Our government works for us and It's our duty as citizens of the Unites States of America to ensure that is always the case. It's what our country was founded upon. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Thomas Jefferson. Or better yet, stay in the UK and mind your monarchy. I'm growing tired of your opining on a subject you seem to have no grasp of.

Also, The law can be an "Ass" in Australia...because the stations lawyers involved okay ed this "Prank" to happen. So I'd advise the said station, to get other lawyers to replace the ones they already employ.

Also, they only suspended them; till things quieten down. The nurses voice is now silenced forever because of what they did...it's so sad, because she's now deceased not of her doing, but of theirs. Media...should all take a lesson from this...before acting out their "Silly Idiotic Confides"!

Also, The D.J.s & the station apologised on Wednesday; & yet they kept using the material on social media to promote their station & up their ratings/profits. Shameful!

Also, lastly I think, she may have committed suicide because she was put on world wide media looking like a fool when all she was, was the "Victim" of this prank...& then she probably thought this matter might go to court later on & she'd be in the headlines again, the scapegoat for it all in the eyes of the Prosecution...& also, she may have thought, she may have, that the hospital in the future might have found an excuse to let her go...also, she might have taken all the blame upon herself for this & being very ashamed of the whole matter. In other words, she probably felt so vulnerable.

So the media, all media, should watch what they do & say in the future & think before they act of all repercussions that might ensue from silly profit & gain media "Pranks"!

Somehow Bob and Piers want to focus on one tragedy and use it as a tool to disarm women who need the protection a firearm provides. For the other side of the story check out the November Defensive Gun use report: http://www.easybakegunclub.com/blog/1902/November-2012-Defensive-Gun-Use-Report.html

This focus on one case takes away from all of the people who defend themselves, their families, and their friends each and every day with a firearm.

Kids and adults are constantly bombarded with guns and violence as entertainment. What they see, well, you know the rest. Adults too often incorrectly give their kids credit for knowing how dangerous a gun can be; they leave a weapon out at home or fail to put it safely out of reach of children. The average person is not trained in proper knowledge or respect of guns. Most are not mentally prepared or taught strict, careful thought processes. Even with all the disadvantages to owning guns, Americans still value their freedom from restrictive government, and I'm in awe of the fact that our society gives their citizens the right to protect themselves and their freedoms from a dictatorship or such. I have respect for this legality. Now, as for myself, untrained in even hunting a "mouse", I choose not to have that weapon as I'd truly regret if it was used by myself or another person at the wrong time and caused a personal tradgedy.

I see where you're coming from. And if I'm understanding you correctly, then I agree that parents now don't teach their kids to respect guns like they used to. When I was young, my grandpa got his .38 revolver out and sat down with me to teach me about it's power and how to respect it and be careful with it. Typically and statistically, children who are introduced to guns at a younger age are less likely to have incidents involving guns and are more likely to use them in a non-homicidal fashion unless forced to. Kids were less worried about guns when I was growing up, because there was less incidence involving them. There are sociopathic kids who just don't care about the consequences, as there were when I was growing up, but the responsible kids far outnumbered them. I don't believe it's society's job to teach right from wrong as much as it is THE PARENTS' responsibility. Too many people want to blame society for their shortcomings, because they didn't want to take the time...and that's why it seems guns are the problem...when really, it's the people with those guns.

For the gentleman that talked about kids being brought up to respect guns, etc, actually because of the NRA and great training and safety info today, there are less gun accidents all around, including children. If you look at this "so called problem", it all stems from the media. The media needs to get you to watch, so they put on what people want to see, trainwrecks, car accidents, and GUN deaths. Why do we as a race slow down on the freeway when there is an accident. Compound that with how quickly we receive our news today, not to mention we get news across the country in the matter of seconds now, compared the 20 years ago when we might not even hear that a man killed his wife and kid and them himself. And if we did, there might have been 1 news cycle, and if we missed it, like most did, you would never hear about it. Now, it repeats on HLN, CNN every 5 minutes for 2 days until the next bad thing happens. LESS VIOLENT CRIMES than 20 years ago, but everybody acts as if it has doubled. IF we ban AR style weapons, we wouldn't save a single life, if we banned high capacity mags we wouldn't save a single life, you know why? Because a murderer will just use a different tool IF they are truly not available, but here's the kicker.... the murderer is ALREADY going to commit the worst of the worst crimes, do you really think he cares about "the how" he is going to do it? what's an extra gun charge when you already murdered someone. Common sense folks... but alas, that is something these 2 gentleman don't have much of.

Ok, Pierce, apparently you don't get American sports.
NBA players get arrested twice as often as NFL players, and MLB players more than NFL also.
http://www. thepostgame.com/blog/dish/ 201110/nfls-surprising -new-arrest-leader

Get over it people, let's make sure we use real facts when we discuss this.

Thank you Bob Costas and Piers Morgan. THis was the first sane and humane discussion of our gun-obsessed culture I've heard on a major network. You are courageous and sensible. Keep it up and don't let the gun lobby demagogue us into failing to enact reasonable gun laws. We are way past due on dealing with this, and the majority of the public agrees with you.

And shame on Bob Costas, Piers Morgan, the political leader, and the religious leaders for refusing to look behind the numbers and at the hard data. You know, the ones where study after study show that gun control is a failed policy.

Bob Costas is a moron. This guy wanted to kill his girl friend and then commit suicide. Since he had a gun he used it. If he did not have a gun, he would have beat her to death and then hung himself with an Ace bandage or sports tape. And regarding "stronger gun laws," virtually every stadium has its own rules about brining firearms, or weapons of any kind, onto the premises. Did not stop him. Maybe if his girlfriend had a gun, this would not have happened since she could have protected herself.

There should be a ban on guns...after all, criminals follow laws and obtain guns legally. If we tell them they can't have guns, they will listen and there's no need to protect yourself from them...is that how this magical world of the imagination works? please, let me know, cause i live in the REAL world, where people need to protect themselves from people who DO break the law and get these guns illegally if they have to cause they are aiming to kill people. Anyone think law abiding citizens shouldn't have legal guns to protect themselves from those who have them illegally?

If we are concerned about the presence of available force leading to bad decisions as a flaw in huma n nature,and we think that the federal government tends to do stupid and wasteful things under the pressure of lobbyists and special interests, then the individual ownership of guns is the least of our problems. What about the military industrial complex and the billions of dollars we reward them with for the weapons systems they convince Washington we need?

I believe preemptive strikes are immoral, and they are a feature of American policy for reasons of corporate profit more than defense.

If bob and piers don't like the guns law, well hey, they can get the hell out! Go back to the UK, we don't need your stupid show on CNN. CNN sucks too. Get out of here with your government paid propaganda, you quacks. And bob, wasting the NFLs air time, by spreading your opinion–one that I might say was no welcomed by Americans–you no good for nothing trader. You need to get off the air ASAP! Terrible job by the NFL for allowing this man to"bad mouth it's organization and players." This guy should move with piers to sissy town UK. Because here in the US of A, we were founded on the freedom to bear arms against a "tyranny government!" I.E. Obama terrorist Huesan. Go get some!

Piers Morgan and Bob Costas just wasted millions of network dollars by using the show as a platform for the usual gun hater propaganda.Mr. Morgan,since you are a British subject and therefore not a free citizen,yet you advocate British gun bans for Americans while enjoying freedoms that you don't have in England.CNN should send you home,where you can do a show about how the bobbies now have to carry handguns after disarming all the lawful handgun owners there.Mr. Costas,since you know little about guns but are supposed to know something about football,you should be lobbying for a ban on 'tackle' football games, and have 'flag' football instead, so as to avoid all the brain injuries that are the true source of the erratic behavior of some players.Lastly, to CNN,please devote your resources to news instead of agendas.

re:bob costas : bob u said lastnite football players turning in thier guns.i appaud them,first because 3/4 football players dont have an education.most elect to quit college for $$$,an alreality they were not taking good courses-aids awareness-music etc.2nd they bash their whats left of little brain cells they have to nothing,maybe we should cancel football ?you also said you can purchase a gun over the internet with out paperwork,this is bull,you need a ffl to ship and go through a background check apon purchase..further more bob we should cancel soccer sports aswell as football ,when coaches pay$$$ TO BREAK PLAYERS BONES AND INFICT BODY DAMAGE TO PLAYERs -isnt this mafia sports ??? TO PUT IN PLAYERS MINDS TO KILL THE THIER OPPONENTS-SHAME ON YOU BOB COSTAS..PIERS MORGAN ,WHY DONT YOU REPORT ON WHY WE TOOK PRAYER DAY AWAY IN SCHOOLS AN GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS–AND WHY IN GOD WE TRUST WAS REMOVED-BUT THE MUSLIMS CAN PRAY ANYWHERE THEY LIKE ,ANYTIME -IF I KNEELED IN THE STREET PRAYING I WOULD GO TO JAIL-NOT THE SAME FOR THEM-IS THIS RACEST-thiers 40 to 60 million americans with guns,most hunt or sport shooting we make up the lagest army in the world DONT TREAD ON US..............

I fully support Bob Costas' comments as do many of my co-workers. Good for him. It is important to address gun violence where and when it happens, including in the NFL. I find it surprising that in the USA, where freedom of expression and of journalism are paramount, that there is so much criticism coming from the Right, especially Fox News, regarding Bob Costas quoting another journalist. Seriously? We are better than this.

Of course those of us who favor individual liberty expect the usual screed from the authoritarians, but as Costas is using (or abusing) his unique position and opportunity to launch a political message, I'm wondering if the network is going to offer equal time for opposing perspectives.

Yes, it will get you in trouble IF YOU ARE STUPID! Bob Costas is an out of touch idiot. It's funny how announcers and tv personalities somehow over time start to think they are actually part of the story. Costas is irrelevant and his opinions even more so. He's an aging dinosaur whose commentary is stylistically out of date and is persona non grata. He's not relatable and the more he opens his mouth, a liability to the NFL and the network. If you need to pack that much make-up on to make him look in his "50's"...that should tell you something. Move into management and off the screen.

Did the NFL do anything to Costas for his remarks? I was wanting to watch a football game not hear him talk about gun control. I will not buy any gear or watch any more games from now on. I cancelled my SuperBowl party and will be sending the money I would have spent to the NRA and to renew my membership. I might even put some of it towards a new firearm.

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